The Corporate Ministry
Throughout early 1999, The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness had been feuding with WWF owner Vince McMahon, trying to gain control of the Federation. To break Vince's spirits they began targeting his daughter Stephanie. Worried about his daughter, Vince shifted focus from his Corporation stable to Stephanie. With Vince occupied, his son Shane gradually took over the leadership of the Corporation. On April 12, Shane kicked Vince, Pat Patterson, and Gerald Brisco out of the Corporation. His rationale was that there was no room in the Corporation for the old and that Vince no longer had his priorities straight. Shane then slapped his father, saying that the strong, ruthless man he knew was gone. Heading into WrestleMania XV, Vince McMahon had been feuding with Stone Cold Steve Austin for an entire year. By this point, the Corporation was involved in the feud as well. The Rock lost his WWF Championship to Austin at WrestleMania XV. He got a rematch at Backlash where Shane was the special guest referee, but lost that match as well. Since Shane had accidentally hit him with the championship belt near the end of the match, The Rock blamed him for the loss. They had a confrontation the following night on Raw Is War and The Rock was fired from The Corporation, but not before giving Shane a Rock Bottom. At Backlash, the Ministry kidnapped Stephanie. The Undertaker attempted to sacrifice her the following night, but the sacrifice was disrupted by Steve Austin. Members of The Corporation had wanted to help Stephanie but Shane held them back. On April 29, the pilot episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker merged his Ministry of Darkness with Shane's Corporation to form the Corporate Ministry. The two groups united in order to fight their common foes Steve Austin, The Rock, and Mr. McMahon. The members of both factions seemingly forgot their past conflicts and worked together as a massive stable. On the following episode of Raw Is War, a new faction formed to oppose the Corporate Ministry. Former Corporation members Mankind, Ken Shamrock, Big Show, and Test joined together to form The Union. The Union members felt that they were being screwed over by the Corporation ever since Shane had taken control of it from his father. Wanting revenge on his son, Vince soon united with the Union as they fought with the Corporate Ministry. As the Corporate Ministry's first act, Shane ordered a WWF Championship match at Over the Edge between Austin and Undertaker with himself as a special guest referee. Vince countered by making himself a special enforcer. That night, an altercation between the feuding McMahons collected Undertaker and Austin, and Shane fast-counted the pin to give the match and the title to Undertaker. That same night, The Rock defeated Triple H via disqualification and The Union defeated The Acolytes, Viscera, and Big Bossman in an elimination match. A week later, The Acolytes defeated X-Pac and Kane to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Meanwhile, The Undertaker's claim since the Ministry of Darkness that he served a higher power was expanded upon. Eventually, The Undertaker decided to serve Austin up to this greater power, who revealed his identity to Austin while dressed in a black robe and a hood that hid his face from the live audience. On June 7, the identity of the higher power was revealed as Vince McMahon and the entire exercise had been a ruse designed to fool everyone and destroy Austin. After the unveiling Linda and Stephanie McMahon, who were also victims of the ruse, got their revenge on Vince and Shane for their actions. Linda announced that she was stepping down as CEO of the company and hiring Austin as her replacement. Further, she and Stephanie were signing over their shares of the WWF to Austin, making him the majority owner of the company with a 50% stake leaving Vince and Shane with 25% each. With Austin now feuding with the McMahons, The Undertaker faced a new challenger, The Rock. After Rock beat The Undertaker and Triple H in a handicap match, The Undertaker faced The Rock at King of the Ring for the title. Undertaker won the match and retained the title thanks to a sealing run-in by Triple H. That same night, Vince and Shane defeated Austin in a ladder match to win his 50% share of the company and regain full control of the WWE. The following week, The Acolytes lost their tag team titles to the Hardy Boyz. As far as Austin was concerned, he reinserted himself into a feud with Undertaker by announcing the night after losing to the McMahons that he booked himself a title rematch with Undertaker for the next week's Raw Is War, which he won. At Fully Loaded, a First Blood match was signed with two stipulations. If Undertaker regained the title, Austin could never challenge for it again. If Austin was to retain, Vince McMahon would be forced to leave the WWF. Austin won by hitting The Undertaker with a television camera after an assist from X-Pac, thus retaining the title and forcing Vince out of the company. Meanwhile, The Acolytes defeated the Hardy Boyz and their manager Michael Hayes to regain the tag team titles and Triple H defeated The Rock in a leather strap match to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship. Two weeks later, the Acolytes would lose the tag team titles to X-Pac and Kane. By the end of July, The Undertaker's relationship with the McMahons had dissolved and the Corporate Ministry was effectively disbanded by Shane McMahon on August 2, 1999. Category:Tag Team